President Barack Obama said in an interview with ABC that "it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
With his Wednesday announcement, the president reversed his longstanding position on the issue. It came on the heels of his own vice president and education secretary saying they were in favor of gay marriage.
According to an ABC blog post, Obama further described his thought process as an "evolution" that progressed as he discussed the issue with staff members, gay and lesbian service members and his own family.
He said he thinks Americans are growing increasingly comfortable with the concept of gay marriage and cited his own daughters' views on the matter.
“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” he said. “You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents.
"And Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them, and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
Read CNN's full coverage of President Barack Obama's stance on gay marriage
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Post by: CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin Filed under: Barack Obama • Civil Rights • District of Columbia • Gay and lesbian • Politics • U.S. |
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Whats funny is why Gay people would want to get married. Talk to any man married for more than five years and he can talk you out of it. You all have it great. You get to be with someone and not have to ruin it by getting married. Why do you want to try and fix that?
Why would a gay couple want to get married? Legal rights
You are so right!!! why would they want to give up the "PERFECT EXCUSE"!!!!!??? "Honey I love you, and I would marry you, but..IT'S AGAINST THE LAW....sorry...Think my gay friends, you are not being careful with what you whish for!
It's about choice.
I was tired of being married the instant I said "I do."
Tax breaks. Social acceptance. Benefits. Legal rights. Wipe the subjectivity from your eyes. It can't be more clear.
Not every GLBT necessarily wants to get married, but that decision should lie with the two individuals involved and not the state, the federal gov't, or the hypocrites who wave their bibles in air while screaming about jesus.
I feel sorry for you that the person you supposedly care for means so little to you that marriage means nothing. Kind of pathetic really. You really don't get what love is do you?
That's the wisest post I've ever read on a CNN's soundoff.
what an idiotic statment
LOL. Too true. After gay marriage, the next civil rights watershed will be gay divorce. I guess you are never truly "free" until you are mailing half your paycheck to your former spouse.
Gay people may or may not want to be married...but I want the choice if I love someone enough to want to marry them.
Why should one class have a choice and other not and that be called EQUAL!!!!
Wow. Ok. Whatever Obama. Gay people. This isn't the civil rights movement. You can be gay. No one is stopping you. Why do you want to bring children into this? A kid is raised by a woman and man....as INTENDED TO BE! Try making kids gay people, go ahead. If you can't make em, keep the kids out of it. Be gay. You can buy houses together. Why do you wanna bring marriage into this so bad?
Hassan – His point is that the millenials of today have no concept that being gay is bad. He often uses his own life experiences to make a point – on this one he gave his REASON why he changed his mind. Get over it.
wow, you need to be educated.
People are going to be gay no matter what you do. So what if they get married, is that doing something to you?? If a church does not want to marry a gay couple fine. But the government has no business in the personal lives of people. Gay or straight. It doesn't matter, let the gay people be who they want to be. Its not going to stop them from raising children, or anything else. We as Americans need to stop being judgemental and rally for freedom. This is a freedom issue.
Really? Should we ban single mothers/fathers too?
What ignorance. How do you make someone gay?
It's not just about marriage, it's about fairness. Many gay people would be fine with just a legal union. But what gay people want is equal rights (hence the civil rights part of the movement). If a gay couple is together for 30 years, but one dies, an estranged family member has more of a right to their processions than the life partner of 30 years. There have been cases where wills have been overturned even. That is what we are talking about here.
Wow. Ok. Whatever Obama. Black people. This isn't the civil rights movement. You can be black. No one is stopping you. Why do you want to bring children into this? A kid is raised by a white woman and man....as INTENDED TO BE! Try making kids black people, go ahead. If you can't make em, keep the kids out of it. Be black. You can buy houses together. Why do you wanna bring marriage into this so bad?
Here here! Now to go out and find all the single parents and take their kids from them... it's WRONG I tell you... WRONG.
Which is why all those "intended to be" straight parents have their kids put in foster care. Where many gay folk and single folk give them love and security and homes and safety and families.
1. No one is trying make kids gay. it's not a choice, it's genetic.
2. Marriage has nothing to do with procreation. Never has.
@ Hasan
Here here! Now to go out and find all the single parents and take their kids from them. It's WRONG I tell you WRONG!
There are over 1000 benefits that married couples get that gay couples are denied, including tax advantages, end-of-life decisions, health insurance benefits, hospital visitation, etc... Denying anybody the same rights that hetero couples enjoy is blatant and hateful discrimination. If you don't believe in gay marriage, don't marry one. Maybe straight people should be denied the right to marry too.
Why are you so obsessed with gay relationships? it's their relationship, they have the freedom to do whatever they want with it. If they want to get married so when one of them is in the hospital the other can visit, who cares? aside from you obviously.
There are other aspects of this than raising children. What most gay couples want is the right to be considered family when one of them is hospitalized. They want the same tax breaks as married couples get. They want their commitment to be formally recognized. If two people want to formally commit to each other, why would anyone object to that? I personally do not understand how such attractions happen, but they do happen and to pretend otherwise is foolish.
You're right Hassan, you can't make kids gay. I was raised in a loving home by one mother and one father... and they couldn't make me straight!
Why do you want to keep marriage away from them?
" Inteneded to be" ! Where does that come from ? Oh yes, a brain-washing, fairy-tale concept called religion. How dumb can people be ?
So let me get this straight – you would rather that kids grow up in orphanages, broken homes, etc. instead of being raised by a couple that loves each other just because they are gay?
I'm gay and don't want kids. But I do want the same rights you do Hassan.... to be able to marry... to see my partner in the hospital when he gets sick... to file a joint tax return saving us money like you would with your wife... It's not always about kids...
After reading some of these posts, one would be absolutely positive there is no such thing as a gay conservative. Republicans would probably have to shoot them on sight, since they are a percieved threat and the stand your ground rule applies if they "feel" threatened.
Did you watch Survivor this past season....I think his name was Colton
Most republicans posting here are extreme right. Not all of us are so narrow minded.
Obama makes Richard Nixon look like Mother Teresa.
W. makes Nixon look like savior Reagan
Pontius– you are such a hypocrite!! How dear you say you think that American's need to get right with GOD, when you are not right with GOD. When your in Realiegh you are with your girlfriend (as in mistress)? Then when at home in Charlotte you are with your wife? Well excuse me, but that is considered adultery and against what GOD wants:
Matthew 5: v 27-29
Jesus said "You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.'
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
So until you are right with GOD, don't tell anyone else how they need to be right with him.. Remember let him who is without Sin cast the first stone.... and your sorry butt is a sinner
You did not get his joke did you? Dang...
Hey Michele,
You might want to get some treatment or maybe a good demon casting would do the trick.
ROFL, they guy was being sarcastic and you probably wasted 20 minutes looking all that stuff up:p
Kudos President Obama!!! So glad you are taking a stand on this important issue.
Obama/Biden 2012
OBAMA 2012
yay. progress! keep it up America!
Let's see, he once opposed the Bush tax cuts, stood for the closing of Gitmo, vowed he'd never take superPacs and
allow lobbying in the White House...and now is for Gays marrying Gays. The great flip-flopper rides again! So sad.
sick,perverted,sinful,and just ouright disgusting are my thoughts on gays,lesbians and Obama
@larry
The feeling is mutual.
Putting your peepee in another dude's pooper is nasty. If you think that's "equal" to the relationship between my wife and I, you have mental problems.
Grow up.
he just sayn wut da people wanna hear so he can get re elected.. lyin ass..
Why do people keep bringing God into how this country should be run? Did we make it already clear that this country is a separation of Church and State? The minute you start bringing God into how this country is run, you're already going against what America is about.
So all you religious fanatics need to realize that marriage equality is NOT a fight against religion and rather a fight to end an injustice to a civil rights issue. Leave God at Church...do not bring him into politics.
But if you need one of your leaders to tell you, Ronald Reagan put it eloquently when he said that Church and State should indefinitely be kept separate.
Well done, Mr. President – even though it took Joe Biden and Arne Duncan to get you finally say it.
you left out Satan
His need for supporters is evolving since he's abandoned so much of his base, aka the working class. He had to turn around on this one to pick up a few more voters who might other wise not bothered to support him.
There is a reason we are not Iran or Saudi Aravia. We are not conservatives. For all those conservatives out there, go to those countries or to any taliban held territory. U will fit right in. After all oppression is ur zen thing.